Re: The plastic surgeons are fuming, again, and about to lose, again.

From: Dave King (lefort3_at_verizon.net)
Date: 06/30/04 

Date: Wed, 30 Jun 2004 03:15:50 GMT

On Tue, 29 Jun 2004 22:13:03 -0400, Steven Bornfeld
<dentaltwinnospam@earthlink.net> wrote:

>
>
>Dave King wrote:
>> Pull a Tooth, Give a Facelift?
>>
>> Thursday, June 24, 2004
>>
>>
>>
>> Oral surgeons in California will be able to perform plastic surgery,
>> if a new bill under consideration in the state Legislature passes.
>>
>> This controversial bill, authored by State Sen. John Burton, will give
>> dental surgeons the right to do any type of plastic surgery on the
>> face -- including nose jobs, face lifts and eye tucks.

For the record, Plastic Surgeons do not have a monopoly on facial
cosmetic surgery, hence its true name.

>>
>> Plastic surgeons are against the bill, saying dentists are only doing
>> it for the money, are not qualified for this type of surgery and would
>> be putting the patient in danger.

This pisses me off. First of all, me and about 12 other surgeons
(Plastics and OMS) cover facial trauma in the state of Delaware. I
consider myself very lucky if I get paid 50% of the time. That doesnt
even consider my lost time in the office and the good old 'reasonable
and customary'. IT COSTS US MONEY TO TREAT THESE PATIENTS. For
example, I spent half the day Saturday in the OR then on Sunday, after
about 7 hours, got called back in at 9:30 PM for a kid that crashed
his motorcycle into his sisters ATV (he was 10, she 8). Got home at
2:00 AM, wound down at about 4:00 AM to be back in DE at 8:00AM.
Fortunately, of the three cases I did on Sunday ( 2 mandibles, 1
orbital/mandible/nose), I will only get paid for the kid that had a
mandible fracture. I didnt even mention the 81 yo that was hit by a
car with a shattered right orbit, nose and maxilla that took 6 hours
to put back together, 6 plates and 50+ screws and no insurance other
than medicaid that I finished today.

The danger part really makes me laugh. If the general public only knew
what a typical plastic surgeons training consisted of, especially the
face, these yo-yos would look even more petty. Its not the degree but
the training, stupid.

>>
>> However, the oral surgeons pointed out they have years of training in
>> operating rooms and that they routinely perform plastic surgery in
>> emergency rooms. In fact, when a plastic surgeon is unavailable at a
>> trauma center, it is dentists who do the facial reconstructions.

Gotta love the BS here. For an institution to be certified in trauma,
the law requires OMFS' to be on staff. When I draw the short straw to
cover facial trauma, its me and the residents. Yep, just the darn
dentists putting the face back together. What is even funnier, the
trauma docs (all are either a D.O. or an M.D.) have prefered the darn
dentists in every institution that I have ever been affiliated with.

>>
>> The military also favors letting dentists perform plastic surgery, as
>> there are no plastic surgeons out in the field.

An interesting comment. OMFS in the military are like gold. The
reason; dual training in facial injuries AND general anesthesia. Talk
about two birds with one stone. The only shame is in the number of
dentists that haven't the slightest clue of the training and expertise
of their own brethren. Not necessarily their fault in most instances
but that is improving.

>>
>> The new bill has already passed the state Senate and is tied up in
>> committee, and it is headed next for the full Assembly.

It should pass, like it has in many states, including the one I
practice in.

>
> Hell, at my residency the ER always called the dentist for head/neck
>trauma, maybe because we were American and they could understand us.
>That goes for the GP residents, let alone the OMFS residents. My last
>night on call, I was called for a skull fracture, and I had to draw the
>line!!
>
>Steve

Lovely! Besides speaking english, the little chip on just about every
OMFS' shoulder means the ER knows who will not only treat the patient
accordingly but get their butts down their quickly without any BS and
get the job done. I am just alittle fired up about this since
cosmetics are a part of my practice that I am working on expanding and
I just had my second weekend of trauma call in the last month. You
name it, I treat it.

Thanks for listening to my rant.

Dave

Diplomate, American Board of OMS
Fellow, American Association of OMS
Attending, Christiana Care Dept. of OMS
Attending, AI DuPont Hospital for Children
Delaware Craniofacial/Cleft Palate Team
Ass Kicker of any Plastic Surgeon that looks down their nose at me or
my dental colleagues

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